Marcus Tullius Cicero→Pompeius Bithynicus|c. 48 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome|AI-assisted
For every reason I long for the republic to be put on a firm footing at last. But believe me, your promise gives me an additional reason to desire it even more. In your letter you write that, if that happens, you will live in my company.
Your goodwill is deeply pleasing to me, and it is exactly what our close relationship and your noble father's high opinion of me would lead me to expect. Be assured of this: in the scale of services, those who have had influence at critical moments, or still have it, may be more closely connected with you than I am; in personal attachment, no one is. So I am grateful both for your memory of our connection and for your desire to strengthen it.
DCCVIII (Fam. VI, 17) TO AULUS POMPEIUS BITHYNICUS (IN SICILY) CAMPANIA (APRIL) For every reason I am anxious for the constitution to be at length put on a sound footing; but, believe me, an additional motive for desiring it still more is supplied me by the promise conveyed in your letter. You say in it that, if that is ever the case, you will pass your time in my society. Such a wish on your part is highly gratifying to me, and is entirely in accord with our close friendship and with the opinion your illustrious father entertained of me. For believe me when I say that others, who have had at times or still have the opportunity, may be more closely united to you by the amount of their services than I am, but that in friendship no one can be so. Accordingly, I am gratified both by your recollection of our intimacy and by your wish to increase it.
XVII. Scr. anno incerto (710, post Id. Mart.?) CICERO BITHYNICO
Cum ceterarum rerum causa cupio esse aliquando rem publicam constitutam, tum velim mihi credas accedere etiam, id quo magis expetam, promissum tuum, quo in litteris uteris; scribis enim, si ita sit, te mecum esse victurum. Gratissima mihi tua voluntas est, facisque nihil alienum necessitudine nostra iudiciisque patris tui de me summi viri; nam sic habeto, beneficiorum magnitudine eos, qui temporibus valuerunt ut valeant, coniunctiores tecum esse quam me, necessitudine neminem. Quamobrem grata mihi est et memoria tua nostrae coniunctionis et eius etiam augendae voluntas.
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For every reason I long for the republic to be put on a firm footing at last. But believe me, your promise gives me an additional reason to desire it even more. In your letter you write that, if that happens, you will live in my company.
Your goodwill is deeply pleasing to me, and it is exactly what our close relationship and your noble father's high opinion of me would lead me to expect. Be assured of this: in the scale of services, those who have had influence at critical moments, or still have it, may be more closely connected with you than I am; in personal attachment, no one is. So I am grateful both for your memory of our connection and for your desire to strengthen it.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
XVII. Scr. anno incerto (710, post Id. Mart.?) CICERO BITHYNICO
Cum ceterarum rerum causa cupio esse aliquando rem publicam constitutam, tum velim mihi credas accedere etiam, id quo magis expetam, promissum tuum, quo in litteris uteris; scribis enim, si ita sit, te mecum esse victurum. Gratissima mihi tua voluntas est, facisque nihil alienum necessitudine nostra iudiciisque patris tui de me summi viri; nam sic habeto, beneficiorum magnitudine eos, qui temporibus valuerunt ut valeant, coniunctiores tecum esse quam me, necessitudine neminem. Quamobrem grata mihi est et memoria tua nostrae coniunctionis et eius etiam augendae voluntas.